Japan has just broken the record for Internet speed, reaching the ‘unbelievable’ milestone of up to 319 Terabit / s

Japanese engineers have just broken the world record for the fastest internet speed, reaching a data transfer rate of 319 Terabits per second (Tb/s), according to a report presented at the International Conference on Communications optical fiber. The new record was made on a cable route of more than 3,000 km. And importantly, it is compatible with modern cabling infrastructure.

This new record is nearly double the previous record of 178 Tb/s, set in 2020. And it’s seven times faster than the previous record of 44.2 Tb/s, set. with an experimental photonic chip. NASA itself also uses a relative speed of 400 Gb/s and the new record skyrockets above what the average consumer can use (average fastest speed reaches 10 Gb/s for connection). home internet).

The record was made with already existing fiber optic infrastructure (but with some advanced add-ons). The team used four “cores,” which are glass tubes placed in data transmission fibers, instead of the usual standard core. The signals are then divided into several wavelengths that are sent at once, using a technique known as wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM). To transmit more data, the researchers used a third “band” that is rarely used, extending the distance through some sort of optical amplification technology.

This new system initiates transmission with a 552-channel laser fired at different wavelengths. It is then sent through a dual-bias modulator, so that some wavelengths precede others, to create multiple signal chains – each of which is redirected into one of the four cores in turn. in optical fiber.

The data transmitted through this system travels over 70 kilometers of fiber optic cable, until it hits an optical amplifier to boost the signal for its long journey. But it’s even more complicated: The signal flows through two new types of fiber amplifiers, one thulium-doped, the other erbium-doped, before continuing to operate in a conventional process known as amplification. great Raman.

Part of the test system

The signal sequences are then sent onto another stretch of fiber, and then the whole process repeats, allowing the researchers to send data over an incredible distance of 3,001 km. Importantly, the new quad-core fiber has the same diameter as a conventional single-core fiber, taking into account the entire protective sheath around it. In other words, it will be much simpler to integrate the new approach into existing infrastructure.

This is what makes the new data transfer speed record so compelling. Researchers in Japan not only blew the 2020 record, but did so with a new engineering approach that is capable of uncomplicated integration into modern fiber optic infrastructure. Hopefully this technology will soon be applied in the future.

Reference: InterestingeEngineering